Hopelessly Human
by yume girl 91
Summary: By chance he stumbled upon her...


~Hopelessly Human~

Her eyelids fluttered, her hand shook, fingers tight around the slender guard of white disappearing. She fell, curving down slowly, her body hitting the empty field, her mind sinking into unconscious oblivion failed to register the cries of the triumphant Hollows above her turn into raucous screams. Shrieks fading into the distance, someone landed in the field, spirit particles flowing away from him.

"Geez…out for a walk and what do I find? A fucking half dead Shinigami!" Kensei Mugaruma scoffed. She groaned a little, hearing his voice. The Vizard stared for a moment at her bloodied form then cursed his luck. _He'd seen berry-boy as Mashiro called Shinji's new recruit, hanging around this girl before_. _Kuchiki-something or other; weren't they close or something?_

_Shit. Berry-boy might go off the wall if…_

He threw his hands in the air, "fine. Fine! I'll deal with it!!!"

~~~*~~~

Rukia awoke to the sound of a crackling fire, heat washed over the small area from the lit center, a man crouched near, feeding twigs into the blaze. "Ouch," she fumbled into an upright position, her shoulders were bare, bandages covered her lower torso. "I wouldn't try to move much if I were you," he advised, hearing her exerted movements.

"Well you're not," she snapped, pressing her palm to her aching forehead. A sizeable lump met her gentle prodding and a scowl crossed her face, "who—who're you? Were you the one who brought me here?"

The man rolled his eyes heavenward, "no, the Hollows did…Of course it was me, idiot! Who else?!" He turned and stared at her with furious eyes, his jaw working angrily. Instead of shrinking meekly against the wall, Rukia glared back, "I was only asking because I wasn't sure, fool. And here I was going to thank you—but obviously," she threw him a hard look, "I needn't thank a fool."

"The name's Kensei, not fool!"

"Well," she shrugged, "you're sure acting like one."

"Let's get this clear, Shinigami!" Kensei snarled, "I just did not_ save you _'cause I wanted to!"

She looked confused; _what was he talking about?_

"I did it so berry-boy wouldn't go all ballistic on me!"

He stopped gesturing violently, her titter surprising him, "What's so funny?"

Rukia sobered up, "berry-boy…you must mean Ichigo?"

"Yeah," Kensei scratched a spot on the side of his head, frowning slightly, "Mashiro calls him that all the time."

"Mashiro?"

"Uh huh. She was my—" he stopped, clamming up suddenly, "you don't need to know." Rukia could have guessed, just the mention of Ichigo's name was enough for her suspicions to rise. "You're a…a Vizard aren't you? Part of those strange people helping Ichigo train for the war."

_Damn this girl was smart. _

"And if I am, Shinigami, what'cha going to do about it?"

"Nothing. You obviously mean me no harm," she pointed out, taking the bluster from his tough-guy act, "and another thing, _Kensei_, my name is Rukia Kuchiki. Not _Shinigami_." She looked around the small area then glared at him again, "I'm starved! Bring me something _edible_ to eat!"

He ground his teeth, his fists clenching; _order him around will she_—

Rukia glanced his way once, "thanks for earlier."

"Don't mention it."

She leaned, back her arms behind her head, "I really mean it. Oh and sorry about calling you _fool_ before."

Kensei blinked; _now that was a bit unexpected_. "Uh…apology accepted."

Her eyes closed, "can you _please_ hurry up? I'm really starving here."

Irritated again at being ordered around, he stomped off without warning. Rukia smirked; this guy certainly reminded her of another hotheaded idiot, even if their bluster was all for not.

~~~*~~~

"Hey! I'm baack—eh? Shinigami—Rukia?"

Incredulously he stared at the heap she was in, fast asleep no doubt by the relaxed look on her face. _Damn woman. He'd only been gone twelve minutes, most of which had been spent being drilled by Shinji as to where he had disappeared to. That kid Ichigo had been there, sparring with Lisa. For a moment he'd considered pulling him aside and telling him about her…then decided not to. Though that would've taken a load off his shoulders. Damn woman_. _Making him so confused_ with her apologies.

"Hey, wake up," he tapped her foot.

No response.

"Wakey, wakey!" he called again, his inflection heavily sarcastic. Her arm flopped over, as she flipped to her side. His eye began to twitch, "I'm here now! You can—"

She whispered something low.

"—stop pretending to not hear me." _Maybe she really was asleep_.

Despite his annoyance, Kensei knelt, curious about her mutterings.

"I-I-Ichigo…where are you? I…I can't find you."

His eyebrows shot up; _this was new_. The kid had never said anything before about being exceptionally close to the Shinigami. Perhaps her feelings…ran deeper?

"When I find you…" her voice changed, her hand shot out, "I'm going to wallop you so hard!!!" Taken by surprise at her sudden lunge, Kensei tried to back up but upon finding himself unable to move far, glanced down. A tiny pale hand kept a death grip on the bottom of his pants.

_Oh shit._

"Let go," he bent over, wrapping his larger hands over her smaller one, tugging at the green material threaded between slender digits. In response, he swore she murmured, "uh-uh," in a low undertone. "I said let—oomph!" struggling to free himself, he became unbalanced and crashed down painfully onto his backside.

"Woman…" he breathed dangerously then stopped. A look into her guileless face made it clear she wasn't doing it _entirely_ on purpose. Kensei sighed, seeing her whitened wrist grow strained, he slid a little closer, her arm folding in at the elbow. Damn women. First Mashiro and Lisa and now this one! He was fed up with their stupid petty demands and domineering ways! After this he was going to…

"C-Cold…so cold."

His eyes passed over her, realizing then that the black kimono of hers that he'd covered her with had slipped off and now her slender childish body was bare except for the wrapping of soaked bandages. Maybe he should've told the kid about her. Those wounds had been pretty serious for a Shinigami…a Vizard like himself could've healed easily, but…

_Stupid weak Shinigami_! _Making him worry again!_

He huffed angrily, turning his head askance to ignore the evidence of her chilled skin. _Little bitch could freeze for all he cared._

He heard her teeth chatter.

_That's what you get._

He felt the sharpening tug of her hold increasing then loosen just the slightest; _what gives?_

He risked a glance into her face; her pink lips loosing color, the soft breaths exhaled disappeared in white puffs in the heated air. _How could she be cold_? Kensei leaned over, laying his palm to her forehead then testing his own temperature. _A fever_! _She was sick!_

_Oh damn._

While he debated on what to do, a crackling noise caught his attention. His hand crept to his waistband where his Zanpaku-to knife was sheathed. A footstep then another and the sound of a grunt came closer. Kensei tensed, his finger sliding against the guard.

"Relax. It's just me," Shinji appeared, in one hand the forgotten bag of snacks was held.

"You followed me?!"

"Of course, fool. I knew something was up when you stopped by earlier carrying off the rest of our supply of bandages! So yeah I followed you, it wasn't easy you know." Kensei received a knowing smile. "You nearly caught onto me. However once you reached here all that changed."

Shinji glanced beneath the shadow of his blond bangs to the inert girl, "that a Shinigami?"

"Obviously."

"What's she doing here? And why so hurt?"

"A group of Hollows overwhelmed her."

"So you stepped in." it wasn't a question.

"Yeah." Kensei looked away, refusing to meet the other's steady gaze.

"That's so unlike you."

The silence fell in between the two friends, Rukia groaned a little, clutching the edge of his pants tighter. Shinji noticed, shooting a faint smirk Kensei's way, "seems she wants to get _into_ your pants." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Shut up!"

As if…

"Well…" Shinji stood up after little longer had passed, stretching even though he hadn't crouched down long, "I'd best be going. I just wanted to check up on you—but now I see you're _busy_."

"Get out."

"I will. I will," Shinji held his hands up defensively, "I'm going _now_."

Kensei watched him use Shunpo to step away. Thinking quickly for a moment, he called after him, "hey! What do I do if she gets a fever?"

The Vizard's reply was clear, "use your body heat to lower her temperature. That means skin-to-skin contact!" He caught the raucous chuckle buffeted by the wind before it reached him. _Damn joker…wait…he didn't really mean it, right_? _Oh sweet Jesus tell me he didn't mean it!_

Except he had the sinking feeling Shinji had meant it.

~~~*~~~

"Here goes nothing." Kensei slid his tank top over his head, depositing it in a careless puddle near his feet. Rukia lay in nearly the same position, half-curled with her legs drawn up to her body and one arm over her abdomen and the other still gripping his pants. _Damn Shinigami_. Kensei lowered himself down slowly onto her, the rough texture of the bandages grazing his chest.

"Dammit all!" he cursed aloud, trying to keep his mind off of the pressure of small breasts pressing into him. He shifted and he felt her hard nipples through the thin covering. His knees slid on either side of her legs, his palms pushing down to keep him above her.

He glanced into her face then, his mind in severe need of distraction chose to commit the fine details of her features to memory. Her pale porcelain skin, the crease of her eyelids, dark lashes fluttering against shallow hollows beneath her eyes. Her lips were almost colorless now, the tiniest of breaths escaping them. Kensei sighed; sliding forward onto his elbows; _if he'd known the trouble this woman was going to cause him then—_

Her hand unraveled, her grasp leaving him. Hurriedly, Kensei started to straighten up, but was hindered once more by the link of slender arms pinioning him from around the waist. _Oh no!_ He tried to break away, her circle only tightening in response. After a while of useless struggling, he sighed heavily, staring down into her satisfied expression.

"Happy now? Well I'm sure you won't be in the morning. _Just remember_…" Kensei settled down against her, feeling her snuggle into the crook of his neck, "…_this wasn't my idea._"

~~~To be continued~~~

AN: don't own Bleach. Yes this is the same one-shot from 'There is always a price' I've decided to expand on it and give you if you will an alternate take on the events of the winter war and a pairing of KenseixRukia along with a jealous Ichigo as a plus. :) You 'almost' got a StarkxHalibel fic. Maybe later on…

Thank you for reading and reviews—not flames—are always appreciated. :)


End file.
